


They've Got Your Back

by xxxbuffyxxx



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Good Theo Raeken, Hospitals, Hurt Theo Raeken, Injury, Insecurity, Kidnapping, Puppy Pack (Teen Wolf), might make a sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxxbuffyxxx/pseuds/xxxbuffyxxx
Summary: Theo Raeken knew that he had done terrible things. He knew he had hurt people, and he knew that, despite what the pack said, he didn't deserve their forgiveness. He deserved to be an omega, on his own, and when he died he deserved to die in pain.But his pack didn't deserve to die.So he would do everything in his power to get them out of here, no matter the consequences.
Kudos: 31





	They've Got Your Back

The thing that Theo hated the most about being back was knowing how much he had hurt people before. 

Knowing that he had caused so much pain made him almost wish he hadn’t been pulled out of hell, because he knew he deserved to rot there. He had hurt so many people, and killed even more than that. Theo was a murderer, and deserved all the pain he had been put through and more. 

But the rest of the pack didn’t deserve any of it. 

That was the only reason he was struggling, fighting against the restraints binding him to the fence. He wouldn’t just watch as Liam and the rest of the puppy pack got hurt because of him. 

It had started as a normal day, Theo was awoken by a cop banging on his car window, silently demanding he get out of the parking lot he was sleeping in. Used to this, he just nodded at the officer and drove to school, deciding there was no point in finding somewhere else to sleep for the rest of the night since he would only get another hour of sleep at most. 

When he got to the school he did a bit of homework before Mason arrived, first, as always. One by one, the puppy pack joined them until the squad was all together, all six of them. 

It wasn’t until lunch that things started going wrong. First, someone had attempted to corner Alec after history, making him already pretty stressed. Then, during lunch, the entire pack felt like someone was watching them, making Theo especially anxious, forgoing eating to instead look around protectively, all his focus on not shifting in the middle of the cafeteria. After their tense lunch, they split up for their last lessons. 

Except, half of them didn’t make it. 

Liam was grabbed as he was passing the bathroom, injected with a sedative before he could react. 

Corey was knocked out with a rock on his way to PE. 

Nolan was grabbed, a hand over his mouth, and dragged into a supply closet, and held there until the halls were empty. Then they dragged him to the back of a truck, finally drugging him when they got there. 

It wasn’t until the end of last period that the last three members noticed their family was missing. Alec smelled Nolan’s terror and found the others, and they started searching for their lost friends. 

They were all taken the moment they went outside, shot with some kind of darts and out like lights in seconds. 

They woke up bound to a big metal fence, none of them recognised where they were, but Theo recognised the person walking around them. 

“Cloud,” he growled, struggling against his bonds even harder than he was before. “What are you doing?”

The wolf laughed, their voice echoing around the forest. “Why would I miss out a chance to hurt the ‘Great Theo Raeken’?”

Theo ignored the confused looks of his pack, but he wasn’t lucky enough for Cloud to do the same. “What, he hasn’t told you?” they asked his family, and they all stared at them, confusion evident in their faces. 

“The fuck are you talking about?” Liam asked, looking between his captor and the chimera. 

“You know that Theo is a murderer, but you don’t know how much he enjoys hurting people,” Cloud said, grabbing something from a table and walking leisurely towards Corey. “He came to my pack and manipulated everyone, eventually getting the pack alpha to kill himself.”

Theo looked down, avoiding his pack’s gazes. Sure, they knew he had changed, but they had never had details of his successes before. 

“After that, the Dread Doctors came and took most of the pack, including me. However, some members of the pack were very sick, but instead of taking them with them and helping them, Theo killed them. Slowly. Painfully.”

Cloud stopped in front of Corey, smiling at him threateningly. “They begged for their lives, we could all hear them. My brother begged Theo not to kill him, asking to just see me for the last time, yet all Theo did was laugh at him. He laughed at my brother’s suffering, before slitting his wrists and walking away, leaving him to die slowly, and in pain”

Then, in a moment, Cloud revealed that they were holding a knife, and they brought it down and into Corey’s shoulder. 

The boy yelped loudly, retreating into himself and hissing in pain. Cloud didn’t bother removing the knife, walking jovially back to the table, ignoring everyone shouting Corey’s name in concern. 

“Why are you hurting them?” Theo asked, almost yanking his arms out of his sockets trying to get them out of the cuffs attaching him to the fence behind him. “I’m the one who killed your brother, all the others have ever done is try to help people!”

Cloud turned to look at him, and he instantly felt uncomfortable under their gaze. It felt as if they were looking into their soul. 

“They didn’t save me either.”

Theo growled quietly, struggling even more. “They didn’t know there were more chimeras! It wasn’t their fault!”

Cloud just rolled their eyes, grabbing what Theo assumed was another weapon and started walking towards Alec. 

No. 

He wouldn’t let them hurt Alec, he was too young, he was practically the only innocent one left in the pack, and Theo wouldn’t let Cloud take that from him. 

“Why are you bothering to hurt these losers anyway?”

Cloud stopped walking, and looked at Theo, along with the rest of the pack. Mason, Liam and Corey all seemed to get what he was doing immediately, but Alec and Nolan almost looked hurt. Theo didn’t have a chance to regret his words though, because Cloud started laughing. 

“I honestly can’t tell if you’re saying this to protect your new pack or if you’re really still this much of a psychopath.”

Theo did his best impression of old-Theo, smirking evilly. “I’d say something bad about your brother, but I honestly don’t remember him.”

That got Cloud’s attention, as he stopped laughing and stared at Theo again, the piercing gaze back. 

“I’m sure it was fun to kill him though, I mean, if he were anything like you then it would have been fun watching him struggle, knowing how weak he was.”

Saying this kind of stuff almost hurt Theo physically, flashes of his time in hell were appearing behind his eyelids when he blinked, but he couldn’t break now. Cloud needed to focus on him. 

“I mean, come on, you think I care about these weaklings?” he said, jerking his head to his pack. “Don’t make me laugh. I stay with them because since the Dread Doctors are gone, I would prefer to be around people for my safety. I don’t need them, so go ahead. Slit their wrists like I did to your brother. I fucking dare you.”

Cloud and Theo stared at each other for almost a full minute, before Cloud chuckled to himself. “I honestly thought you were trying to change.”

Theo almost flinched when he heard Alec sob to his right, but he couldn’t break now. He just needed Cloud to pay attention to him for a few more seconds. He needed to grow the balls to do what he knew he needed to do.

“I did change, but not on the inside,” he said, blocking out the scents of doubt and fear from his pack (were they his pack anymore?). “All they were was a means to an end, nothing more nothing less.”

Cloud was so close to losing control of his anger. It was obvious, especially to Theo, who had spent most of his life learning the tells for that kind of thing. He just needed a bit more of a push. 

“Wait, was your brother ginger?” he asked, taking a random guess. The wolf’s posture changing proved Theo right. “Yeah, I do remember killing him actually.” 

A lie. 

“Listening to him begging for help, begging to say goodbye, it was music to my ears, honestly.” 

Another lie. 

“I hope you remember it as well as I do,” Theo said, pushing it, “before I killed him I was thinking about leaving the Doctors, but after that… I could never pass up an opportunity to hear screams like that again-”

Cloud screamed in pain and leapt at Alec, stabbing him in the chest with the knife in their hand. 

“No!” Theo screamed, yanking as hard as he could and snapping the handcuffs in half, stumbling a bit at the force it had taken. He looked at his wrists, still in the broken cuffs, and saw his wrists bleeding heavily, but he paid no attention to it. Theo got his bearings fast enough though, and he half-shifted, roaring at the wolf who had hurt his pack. 

Cloud took a bit too long to react, and so they didn’t have time to defend themself from Theo jumping towards them, and after a second they stood there, a great bleeding gash in their side. 

“I won’t die to you,” Cloud muttered, staggering slightly to the side, but managing to stay on their feet, turning to Theo. 

“You don't need to die period, Cloud,” he said, standing protectively between the wolf and the rest of his pack. “Just let us help you and stand down.”

Cloud laughed, loudly and suddenly, catching Theo by surprise. “You’re gonna let me go? Theo Raeken, the psychopathic killer, letting someone go? No, this is who you are,” they dug their claws into their side, making them wince, “you’re just a killer, that’s who you are, who you always be, and who you will die as!”

Theo noticed just too late that Cloud had been walking backward as they were talking, and he just managed to cover his chest with his arms as Cloud grabbed a rifle, aimed it at his chest, and fired. 

Theo’s body erupted in agony, causing him to scream in pain and collapse. 

Cloud laughed again, sounding even more deranged than before now, and grabbed another knife from the table and letting their shaky legs take them to Theo’s bleeding form. 

“Hey, hey, stay awake,” they said, grabbing their bleeding shoulder and shaking it harshly, making him whine in pain. “You need to watch the rest of them die.”

Cloud maneuvered him so that he was looking at his pack, and he noticed that Alec was looking way too pale, and Corey was definitely getting there. 

He also noticed the bullet wound in Nolan’s stomach. 

“No…” he murmured out, his entire body tensing, trying to get up, but nothing happened. He was just too weak. Theo quickly counted and found six bullet holes that he could see. “Don’t hurt them!”

Cloud stood in front of Mason, turned to look at Theo and stuck their tongue out at the chimera, before bringing the knife to Mason’s throat. The human was crying silently, begging Theo with his eyes to do something. 

Theo wasn’t about to let his pack die for something that he had done. 

He took a deep breath, before shifting faster than he ever had before, bones cracking and the bullets in his body scraping against bones, muscle and fat. He would have passed out if he were in any other situation, but he knew that if he hesitated much longer than Mason would die. 

As always, Theo felt the power of his wolf and his coyote in this form, and he leapt at Cloud, biting the arm holding the knife, and they screamed in pain. He held on, digging his claws into their body as they tried to shake him off, adrenaline stopping him from even flinching when Cloud dug his fingers into a bullet wound on his side. Theo yanked down, and after a moment of struggle, Cloud was on the ground, and Theo was standing victoriously on their chest. 

Theo growled warningly, but he saw all of the fight leave them, as Cloud let their body finally collapse. They head hit the ground with a thump, and they laid there, still. 

Theo almost didn’t want to move, but then he heard, or better yet didn't hear, Cloud’s heartbeat, and after focusing on it, realised Cloud wasn’t tired, they were dead. 

Theo had killed another person. 

No, not again, he wasn’t a murderer. 

Theo limped over to the table, jumping up slightly to see a ring of keys, and taking them to Liam. He struggled for a minute to get the right key, especially since right now he had paws instead of hands, but he managed to release Liam’s wrists from the shackles just in time for his adrenaline to run its course, and his legs gave out beneath him, his fur-covered body falling unceremoniously. 

Liam said something, and there was some sort of jingle that Theo couldn’t quite make out, before his eyes slipped shut for a moment. 

“Hey,” he heard, and he reluctantly pulled them open again, to see Mason putting pressure on his wounds. “Don’t you dare fall asleep on us, asshole.”

Theo’s tail thumped on the ground twice, signalling that he was ok, before he let the darkness take over, and he fell into nothingness. 

\---

“When he wakes up I’m gonna fucking kill him, that’s what’s gonna happen, Mason.”

“I’m not happy with him either, Liam, but he still basically died to save us, so we can’t be that mad at him, alright?”

“I can be as mad with him as I fucking like.”

“Liam, he might be fragile when he wakes up, you can’t…”

Theo had had enough. 

“I hope you’re not talking about me,” he said, his voice strained due to his dry throat, but loud enough that they both heard him, and turned to look at him. 

Theo finally got the energy to open his eyes, and blinked against the harsh lights of the hospital. He looked at Mason and Liam and smiled awkwardly. 

“What the fuck was that, Theo?” Liam asked angrily, his eyes flashing yellow. It was obvious he was pissed, and Theo ducked his head. 

“I’m sorry, I-”

“No, I can’t believe you, Theo, you-”

“I said I was sorry!” Theo yelled, his eyes tearing up quickly. “If you’re going to kick me out of the pack then just do it!”

That made Liam stop, his face unreadable. “What?”

Theo suddenly found the blanket wrapped around his body very interesting, and he started playing with a loose thread. “You heard Cloud, you know what I did to his brother. How could I possibly be in your pack when I’m a murderer? I wouldn’t be surprised if you sent me back to-”

“Don’t you fucking dare finish that sentence.”

Everyone jumped, looking at the door where Nolan was standing, arms wrapped around his abdomen protectively. 

“You saved all of our asses in there, and you almost died for it.”

Theo looked down again. “But you heard what Cloud said, I’m a psycho!”

“No, you used to be a bad person because you were manipulated by the Dread Doctors.”

There was suddenly a voice from the hallway behind Nolan, and the human stepped to the side, letting Corey and Alec get wheeled in by Melissa McCall and Dr Geyer. 

“Theo, you’re awake,” the woman said, smiling at him. She rolled Alec next to him, the boy still unconscious, and then started looking the chimera over. She checked his vitals before frowning. “Your heart rate is extremely high, are you alright?”

Theo’s breathing picked up, fiddling with the thread on the blanket even more, and obviously not looking at her. Images of him killing Scott were at the front of his mind, and he knew that if he looked at her then he would just break down. 

“I’m fine.”

“Bullshit,” Liam said, quickly apologising to his dad. “Theo, you’ve been in the pack for over a year now, and we’ve almost never seen you this worked up over something, so what’s wrong?”

Theo sighed, pulling the blanket over his head. “I don’t deserve to be here.”

He didn’t see their faces, imagining them nodding to his words, but instead, he felt someone grab his hand. 

“Theo look at us.”

He peeked over the blanket almost comically, seeing Mason holding his hand, rubbing his thumb along the back comfortingly. “Theo, we aren’t going to kick you out of the pack.”

Theo’s throat closed with emotion. “What?” he choked out. 

“Theo, you’re one of us!” Corey said, smiling at him from his bed next to Alec. 

Liam spoke up. “I wasn’t angry at you because you’re a ‘bad person’ or whatever it is you think, I was mad at you because you put yourself in danger, and it was illogical of me, and I apologise.”

Theo’s mind was racing. “But… but you know what I’ve done now, you should hate me!”

“We don’t hate you Theo,” he heard a weak voice, and turned to see Alec’s eyes open, looking at him. “You’re pack, and we love you.”

Theo’s breath was shaky, and he looked back down. How could they still care about him knowing how bad a person he was? Cloud had described him killing someone, and enjoying it! 

“But… I’m bad.”

The rest of the pack could practically feel their hearts break at that sentence. 

“Theo, you’re not the same person you were,” Corey said. “You’ve saved our lives more times than we could count, and you’re trying your best to make up for everything you’ve done in the past. It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that you regret who you were, and that in itself shows that you’re not a bad person anymore.”

“Yeah!” Alec said, smiling at Theo. “Bad people don’t feel bad for doing bad things, you do.” Theo was crying now, breath stuttering and tears running down his cheeks. 

“I am bad!” he argued. “I taunted Cloud, I killed them! One of the last things they heard was how much their brother’s murderer enjoyed doing it!”

“Theo, you saved our lives by doing that,” Mason said, a distant look in his eyes, remembering the feeling of the freezing metal of the blade against his neck. “You saved my life!”

Theo squeezed his hand in what he hoped was a comforting way, and turned to Corey, Alec and Nolan. “Are you ok?”

“We’re fine,” Alec said, at the same time as Nolan said, “I think I’m dying.”

“Oh, hush,” Corey said affectionately, “you’re fine.”

“I’m only human, Corey, I’m gonna be in pain for months!”

Theo felt a stab of guilt, and ducked his head. Nolan noticed and slapped a palm against his own forehead. “Wait, no, Theo, I’m being a baby.”

“I got you shot!”

“You saved our lives, I’m only alive because of you.” Nolan retorted, sitting next to Theo on the hospital bed. “We love you, you’re pack.”

Theo was about to argue, but before he could, Nolan had pulled him into a hug, mindful of both their injuries. Distantly, Theo heard Dr Geyer’s concerns about them overexerting themselves, but someone shut him up before he could do anything. Theo hesitantly put his own arms around Nolan, and then he felt two more sets of arms surround the two of them. 

The scent of disappointment and loneliness came from the side, and Theo turned to look at the two bedridden boys next to him. 

“Wait, why is Nolan able to walk around when he got shot in the stomach but Corey isn’t allowed out of bed with a stabbed shoulder?” Theo asked, finally getting the courage to look at Scott’s mum. 

“The knives and bullets were covered in wolfsbane. Corey, Alec and you were affected by it,but since Nolan is human it was only a bullet wound.”

Nolan grumbled, emphasising that she made it sound like the bullet wound didn't hurt, making Theo giggle. They disbanded the hug, Nolan going to sit on Alec’s bed instead. 

“Theo?” Liam’s dad asked, making the chimera jump. 

“Yes sir?”

“Where do you live right now?”

Theo blanched at the question, which seemed to come from nowhere. “Why do you ask?”

“Me and Jenna alerted the pack that you were missing when you didn’t come home to watch Star Wars and eat pizza, plus we didn’t get a text saying you were going to be late. Knowing how much trouble you can get in, we got the pack to look for you, and we found your car still parked at school.”

Theo cursed mentally, thinking up any excuse he could before the question was asked, but he was pulling a blank. 

“We found what looked like a bed in the boot of your car, as well as a suitcase full of clothes, so let me ask again; where do you live right now?”

Theo’s silence answered the question. 

“Oh, Theo,” Corey said, “why didn’t you say anything?”

“After Liam got me out of hell…”

“You’ve been living in your car since you got out of hell?” Liam said, getting angry again. “Theo, that was over a year ago!”

The chimera pulled his knees to his chest, once again picking at the loose thread on the blanket. 

He heard someone sigh, before he felt different arms surrounding him. He looked up to find his head tucked into Melissa’s neck. “You don’t need to be on your own, Theo. You’re pack, maybe you have done bad things, but all of that is forgiven.”

“I killed your son,” Theo said, and his body tensed up, waiting for her to remember how awful he had been, how much pain he had caused the pack. 

Instead, her arms curled around him tighter. “All is forgiven.”

Theo broke, and started sobbing into her shoulder. He could feel the love surrounding him, finally letting himself smell their affection. He could feel everyone in the room, and could sense no anger, not even from Liam. He felt loved. 

“You can come and live with us if you want,” Dr Geyer said, making Theo look up at him. “Jenna and I discussed it when you were missing, and we’re quite sure Liam will agree. You don’t need to be alone anymore.”

Theo felt overwhelmed, hiding his face in Melissa’s neck and curling into the embrace. The woman laughed, squeezing him one more time before letting go. 

“Can I hug him?” Corey asked, and Alec nodded enthusiastically. Melissa looked like she was going to say no for a moment, before looking back at Theo and seeing the hope in his eyes, and she sighed dramatically. 

“Well, you’re just going to do it once we leave,” she said, and Alec jumped out of his bed, wincing at the pull of his injury but getting over it quickly, throwing himself at Theo. The chimera’s wounds protested loudly, but he said nothing, choosing instead to hug the wolf back. Corey appeared behind him silently, hugging both of his packmates. 

After a few seconds, the rest of his pack couldn’t stop themselves, and they appeared, joining the hug. Mason kissed Corey’s cheek, which made Nolan do the same to Theo jokingly, making everyone groan.    
  


“Nolan, buy me a drink first,” Theo said, showing his pack that he was back to his normal self, and everyone burst out laughing. 

Maybe too hard, but it had been a rough few minutes, they needed a good laugh. 

Theo turned to the adults. “Dr Geyers?”

The man smiled at him, “Call me Dave.”

Theo smiled back, finally relaxing. “I would love to live with you.”

Liam let his head fall so that his forehead was touching Theo’s and they both closed their eyes, feeling their bond grow ever stronger. “Thank you,” Liam whispered, and Theo smiled wider. 

Theo felt the events of the day catch up to him, and he leant on Liam, suddenly feeling exhausted. 

“Ok, maybe time to let you guys rest,” Mason said, turning to Alec and Corey. “And don’t think we’ve forgotten that you two are on bed rest too.”

Alec looked reluctant, looking at Theo. Everyone understood what he meant by that look, and Dave sighed. 

“Would you like us to push the beds together?”

Alec beamed and nodded, making the rest of the pack coo at him teasingly. He pretended to hate it, brushing them off and calling them embarrassing, but the smile was still right there on his face. 

After some fuss, Mason and Liam helping the adults move the beds while the injured pack members cuddled in a pile, they had managed to tie six beds together, giving them enough room to fit the entire puppy pack on them. 

“No funny business,” Melissa said seriously, “over half of you are still injured, and you all need rest.”

“Yes, Melissa,” came echoing from the pile of teenagers, and she and Dave smiled at each other as they left the room, turning the light off as they left. 

After a few minutes of silence, Alec spoke up. 

“Theo, are you awake?”

“Mh?” came the sleepy reply. 

“Thank you.”

Theo looked at Alec, lifting his head from Corey’s uninjured shoulder, which he was using as a pillow. He saw all of the pack were still awake, looking at him. 

“What for?”

“You saved us all, not just today, but all the time. You spend all your time helping people, and you expect nothing back. You even help me with my homework sometimes, and you don’t expect us to owe you anything. Cloud was wrong, Theo. You may have been a bad person before, but now you’re one of the best people I know.”

Theo sniffed, tears in his eyes again. 

Liam groaned, picking Alec up carefully and bringing him into a hug. “That’s enough sappy stuff, Theo is gonna lose his tough guy persona if he cries much more.”

The chimera glared at him, but Nolan swatted at him before Theo could move. “Theo’s the toughest guy here, Liam, he broke through metal handcuffs to save our lives, he got shot like a billion times, and he almost died! I think he gets the title of toughest guy ever!”

Theo smiled, dropping his head back down and letting himself fall asleep. 

Because he knew that no matter what, his pack would always have his back, just as he would have theirs. 


End file.
